Probe systems are used to analyze, examine, and test devices in many industries, such as the semiconductor and material science industries. Probe systems are capital equipment that may range in price from $15,000 to over $1,000,000. Purchasing capital equipment is believed to be the second largest expense associated with operating a semiconductor facility. Conventional probe systems typically offer no flexibility or upgradeability in terms of size, materials that can be probed and other capabilities. For example, if a user desires to probe a larger semiconductor wafer than the one for which their existing system is designed, that user would likely need to replace the existing system with a new probe system or a substantially refurbished system. In addition, if a user wants to probe materials in two different scientific fields, e.g., semiconductor and life sciences, two different probe systems are generally required. Particularly for smaller businesses, academic institutions and other organizations with limited capital equipment budgets, the cost of two probe systems can be prohibitively expensive. Moreover, new probe systems are often not immediately available, with delivery times of 8-12 weeks being typical. To complicate matters, strong disincentives are believed to exist in the probing industry to deviate from the use of probe systems that are dedicated to a given test, and are not easy to upgrade or otherwise change.
Modular fixturing systems are known in the prior art. These systems often include a base plate having a plurality of apertures for receiving various supports for holding a work piece during a manufacturing operation. The location of the supports is chosen as a function of the configuration of the work piece to be supported. Such known fixturing systems are not believed to include all of the components necessary to perform the manufacturing operation; rather, the fixturing systems are merely used with such components. In any event, such known fixturing systems are not used in connection with precision testing of a device-under-test (“DUT”) through the use of delicate probes, as discussed above.